USMNT: ‘The best crowd I’ve played in front of in the United States without a doubt.’

Here are some federation-provided quotes and stats from the USMNT’s 2-0 home win over Panama in World Cup qualifying. You’ll read lots of praise from players and coaches for a Seattle crowd of 40,847 at CenturyLink Field.

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U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach JURGEN KLINSMANN

On the team’s performance: “We were very pleased with our performance. I think throughout the entire game we were in control of it. Every area on the field the guys did their job. We prepared them for doing certain things and they executed it 100 percent. Amazing crowd. It was just, I think, a wonderful atmosphere that the players enjoyed tremendously – we all did. We pushed for a second goal, that’s what we said at halftime. We wanted to add another one to just sort of finish things off and that second goal came, funny enough to Eddie Johnson who plays here, and we are very pleased. But we still have another one to go so we want to get those three points as well against a very strong Honduras side later this week in Salt Lake City.”

On if he is seeing what he wants from the team: “As coaches, we always want to improve things. No matter what stage you take over a team you just want to help the team to get better and you want to give them as much knowledge as possible and as much guidance as possible in order for them to improve, to grow, and to start fine-tuning things and that’s what we said over the last couple of days. We want to fine-tune things. We want to improve the understanding on the field. We want to build partnerships. If it’s on the flanks, if it’s the two centerbacks, if it’s Jozy [Altidore] and Clint [Dempsey] up front, if it’s Michael [Bradley] and usually Jermaine Jones – today it was, in a very, very strong way, Geoff Cameron, we want to just improve that one game at a time. I think that they are growing in that process. When you bring young players along you want to give them that opportunity, too. I think the players, no matter if it’s a more experienced one that comes in like Brad Davis or it’s a young player like a Joe Corona, they understand their roles. They know now that’s what we demand from them. Obviously overall as a team we want to just get better and improve and be able then to compete one day with the best out there.”

On Jozy Altidore: “He knows he has our full support in his development. Again, we have talked often about Jozy and often we forget how young he still is. You got to give him a bad game or a bad performance as well. But you also got to kick him in his backside when you think he needs it. It’s just normal. He’s playing a position I played my whole career for 18 years for big clubs so I know what’s going through his mind, I know when he struggles and what we demand from him is when you struggle just fight for your way back into the game and do your job for the team. How he is doing that in the last couple of games is absolutely outstanding. Already against Costa Rica, in Mexico, and he continues now to do that. It helped him obviously scoring against Germany because that’s what you need. A striker needs goals for his confidence. I think he is also learning. I had a long chat with Ernie Stewart out there in Washington, his technical director at Alkmaar. He learns to use his body as well. He is such a physical presence and sometimes he doesn’t use it. I think he is just now starting to use it, to shield the ball and to do a lot of work for us. It’s really nice to see that coming along.”

On Geoff Cameron: “We asked him to win a lot of balls back, cover the two centerbacks and have a strong, strong presence in there. I don’t know how many balls he recovered; he was constantly there. And then we asked him to play it simple, and he did that. We said once you get that ball, then just keep it simple, find Michael Bradley, find Clint [Dempsey], find the players around him and cover our two centerbacks. It was a huge performance by Cameron for us. It’s really important to see that players step in if somebody is injured, if somebody is yellow carded like it happened now, and it gives us even more confidence to go into the next game knowing that whoever steps in now will get his job done.”

On moving forward in the Hexagonal Round: “We just need to get points after points. Next week is huge. We want to finish these couple weeks now with another win. Again, I said it today and I will say it again before that game, it’s a must-win. You’re at home, you’ve got to win your home games, then it makes it a lot easier going where we need to go. It’s going to be our job next week. If that happens then that would be just a very good position to have going into the fall period with four more games to go. But I think the team realizes now that you have to give everything you have, and you have to also learn to manage a game when you’re a goal up and go for the second one, and not just thinking you’ve got to hold that result. I think that’s what they did today. They were really eager and hungry to add another goal. And we could have added another one or two, but we are fine with that. It’s important that they keep playing, their rhythm, their pace, with their confidence going forward constantly. That’s really what pleased us a lot today.”

On the playing surface: “I think every time probably when a grass field is put on top of turf it causes a little bit of discussions. The field was totally fine. The players were fine with it. They did a tremendous job with the field. They accommodated every wish we had, water it here, water it there, rolled it again this morning. I can just give the biggest compliments to everyone here for the field.”

On Brad Evans: “I think Brad Evans is growing into this role. He is making a very strong case for himself in our group to play that role and I think if you go through that entire team today it was really a complete performance from everyone involved.”

On the defense: “I think they just grow into that role. They fine tune things. More playing time means better understanding has developed. But you don’t know what the next game will bring you. I think question marks will be always there. That’s just normal. What’s Important is that on this road towards Brazil we get the job done and get the points and qualify and then we can start another period to plan. It is impressive to see how Omar [Gonzalez] and Matt [Besler] take their roles and how confident they are now and they don’t shy away from anything. Then we have guys in the back like Clarence [Goodson], he can play that play that blindly if there’s need to it. That’s what we want to build a bigger roster for everything.”

On playing against Panama: “We saw the last couple of games from Panama and I think Julio Valdes is doing a fantastic job with the team. It’s a very strong team dynamic. They can pass through the middle and they can cause you problems at any time. And they caused us a couple of problems still. Even when they were down 2-nil they still pushed it. It was what we expected, but I think that today we were just kind of more dominant. I think we had that confidence to control the game, and they made it very, very difficult for a very good Panamanian side and therefore I think today we really deserved that.”

On Eddie Johnson: “That’s very simple. Since we try to double our positions and we try to always have somebody behind that is almost as good as the starter. Eddie’s role was if something happens to Graham Zusi or even on the left wing, we can throw him in there even if something up top happens. He has done tremendously and he deserves a huge compliment. Talking about Brad [Evans] before and Eddie, I’m constantly talking to Sigi [Schmid] here about how they are doing and we kind of have a feeling that we can follow him and help him therefore we were very pleased to have him in such strong shape now.”

U.S. MNT Defender OMAR GONZALEZ

“I thought there was a lot of energy from all of us. We were getting around the ball, which was what we wanted to do. We kept them in front of us, and we knew that they had danger out wide and the possibility of getting behind us there, and I thought the whole team did a great job the whole night.”

On his performance: “They were going after Brad [Evans] quite a bit and I just wanted to make sure he had enough cover there. There were a couple times when that guy got around Brad but I thought me and him both did well to get around the ball and make sure to make the play. Once that kind of slowed down a bit, I thought that we possessed the ball for quite a bit of the game. To get a 2-0 win against Panama who hasn’t lost yet this round is great for us.”

On the atmosphere in Seattle: “I thought it was absolutely fantastic. The fans were amazing tonight and to hear how loud it got at some points in the game was just really incredible. I’m really happy that we did get to play here in Seattle. For once it’s nice for these fans to be cheering for me.”

U.S. MNT Goalkeeper TIM HOWARD On the backline: “We were strong in the back, not giving up many chances at all. We kept a really good line, caught them offside a few times.”

On the defense: “We did well. That’s what it takes, kind of get thrown into the frying pan, take your lumps, and get better. If you play enough games and stink you’re off. They’ve done well. They’ve gelled; we’re young and learn together. We’re trying to slowly but surely, each game, be a little bit better. We’re trying our best, it’s not going to always be pretty but we’re striving for perfection.

On Geoff Cameron: “Awesome performance. He was strong on the ball, he set up one of the goals, really, really, good. I thought he was dialed in there. It was great to see; he deserved it. He’s easy on the eye the way he moves. He has those long, loping strides and he’s very coordinated. He seems like he’s really calm in that position as well which is pretty awesome. His body language is very calm.”

On things coming together: “Two in a row, six points is coming together. It feels good. You talk about a nine point swing, and we’re on the verge of that. So if we can get three we can set us ourselves up for a great fall.”

On the crowd: “Fantastic. I think there was baseball game today, and if there wasn’t there would be even more. I thought it was amazing to have a football stadium, and have the bowl be almost filled. It was really, really cool. It was inspiring for us.”

U.S. MNT midfielder MICHAEL BRADLEY

On the win: “Yeah, big win for sure. Especially when you look around the group right now and the results, three points are big. Every guy who stepped onto the field tonight should be proud of what they did. We talked beforehand about coming out and setting the tone from the start with our reactions when the ball turns over. We wanted to go after them and be aggressive and put them in a game right away where they would be uncomfortable. I think as far as doing all those things it was really good.”

On the crowd: “Obviously for me you can’t talk about the game without talking about the crowd—unbelievable. The best crowd I’ve played in front of in the United States without a doubt. From all the players, a big thank you to everyone who was here in the city who makes this a special night for us. People should know the difference it makes when you play in an atmosphere like this.”

On players stepping up: “Geoff [Cameron] and Eddie [Johnson] both came in and had real good nights. We talked yesterday before training how one of the qualities of this team has always been that on big nights when certain guys aren’t there that guys are ready to step in and make sure the team doesn’t miss a beat. I think that’s the biggest compliment you can give those guys—they stepped in in a big situation and gave really big performances.”

On performance of young guys: “It is important for these guys for who it is the first time through qualifying to understand what it’s all about, to understand what it’s like when you go play on the road and what those games are like, and it’s important for them to understand how quickly then you have to shift gears and know how to take advantage of playing at home.”

U.S. MNT Defender MATT BESLER

On the improved relationship of the defense: “It’s something that takes time—building a back four, building a partnership between center backs and goalies. It’s something that you gain through experience. We are learning here as we go, but this is a huge stepping stone for us.”

On how the field played: “The field was fine. Little bumps here and there, a couple times guys slipped, but it wasn’t an issue at all.”

On the atmosphere in the stadium :
“The atmosphere was amazing. It was one of the best atmospheres I’ve played in. It was such a pro-American crowd and they really got behind us. It would have been awesome to give them the third goal—the place would have gone crazy—but at the end of the day a 2-0 win is a great performance by us.”

On the team starting to click :
“The team is really coming together. This group of guys are all on the same page. We are starting to play together and I think that’s showing a lot on the field. Right now we are ready to go to Salt Lake and finish off the trip. We’ve already talked about on wanting to get nine points and that would put us in a very, very good position.”

U.S. MNT defender DaMARCUS BEASLEY

On the team’s performance :
“A more complete game by us. We controlled the game pretty much the whole game. You got to give Panama credit—they battled. They had a couple chances at the end of the game, but at the same time our performance today was pretty good, pretty solid.”

On the team finding its form: “We are starting to have that confidence and guys are starting to play more together. This is the World Cup qualifier and the guys know that; this is not a friendly game, this is a game that matters. On nights like this you want to have a game like we did today, and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

On the team’s momentum “Once you have games like that it’s always fun to play. You can always have bad games, but when it does go right it feels good to get a win. We could have scored a couple more goals, no disrespect to Panama, but we had a good game tonight. We really wanted to win tonight, we needed to win tonight, and now we’re on six points and hoping to get another three-point victory.”